Bulbs

New gladioli fields will harvest in Dutch off-season

The flower bulb that started it all in Brazil is growing in acreage and sales again after a lull period.
By Mauricio Mathias The success was such that three generations later ornamental crops are still a big part of the family businesses, which became a number of diversified agricultural activities, and flowers are the main business in town. Gladioli production peaked in the 70s when it reached the landmark 11 million dozen/year, then the family started diversifying to different flowers. Another spur came in the 80s when there was a shortage of bulbs imported from the US. Importers turned to Brazil and found out that the local bulbs had more vigour, they were more rounded and taller within the same size class, which meant more volume and ultimately bigger flowers. tions but the need to mechanize the extensive bulb fields had prevented such areas from being used. Their terrain was too hilly for irrigation pivots for example, so in order to keep production costs down farming ended up restricted to elevations of up to 700 m, in relatively flat and mechanizable plots and that in turn limited their cultivation season. Whats more once the pivots were in place food crops were cultivated in the gladioli offseason, thus helping pay for itself. ings in the year: one in January/February that is harvested in June/July, the second planting in July is harvested the next January. The very first gladioli bulbs from Itapetininga were lifted last January, and the clients approved it. So now the Casa Branca fields will be kept at around 40 ha, and the new place should have around 35 ha in the first planting and 20 ha in the second. The market will tell if and when we should increase, last year we grew 10% in acreage. Regardless we will carry on producing from both locations so we have fresh bulbs three times a year. Few other regions in the world have a January bulb harvest, continues Paco.

ven though the Holambra Coop has become famous chiefly for its flower production and auction it wasnt always like that; the group of Dutch emigrants that went to Brazil in the 1950s started out with field crops. Back in 1959, Mr. Klaas Schoenmaker began planting the gladioli bulbs that he had brought over from The Netherlands. The initiative was met with scepticism by many, including the coop leader at the time, for the predominant thought in those days was that one could only make a living out of food crops.

New regions explored

In the last years, however, different regions in Brazil have been tested for their climate and other production factors. The one that came out winning was the town of Itapetininga, 210 km to the south of Holambra, still in So Paulo state. Paco van der Louw, a Dutchman himself, has been managing the gladioli production for the Terra Viva for two years now. He outlines the new regions main advantages: Cooler summer, better rain distribution throughout the year and disease-free soil. We even thought of going to the south of Brazil to grow in a different season, but logistics would be more complex since all bulb sorting and grading is still done in Holambra. So this turned out to be a great compromise. Its slightly more southern location together with the 650 m elevation allows two plant-

Mechanization limitation
Since the 70s the Schoenmaker gladioli bulb production, nowadays known as Terra Viva and sold under the trade mark Brasbonitas, was concentrated in the town of Casa Branca, 120 km to the north of Holambra and at a higher elevation. The traditional season has been planting from March to May, and harvesting in October/November. These fresh bulbs supply the internal market and generate basic material for future fields. A major drawback however was that exports coincided exactly with the Dutch harvest, so the goal was to shift the crop timing to fetch better prices. This would have been possible in places at higher eleva-

Flowers all year

Production of the gladioli flower remains in the town of Itobi, near Casa Branca, where another 40 ha are cultivated. Planting and cutting takes place every week to maintain flower supply during the year, peaking in All Souls day, when 10% of the yearly production is sold. Some 35% of the flowers are exported, compared to 65% of the bulbs. A novelty was the increase in flower sales to the US on the last Chinese New Years Day, markedly of red flowers. The Brazilian market prefers the one-colour varieties, mainly red or white, whereas the US buys mostly flowers with two or three colours. At the Holambra auction, Terra Viva is the only gladioli

A change to auction sales by the stem has helped increase gladioli prices.

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Bulbs

flower and bulb supplier. A change in sales mode has also benefited the flower price at the auction. For 45 years gladioli have been sold by the dozen, but since 2004 sales are being made by the stem. That combined with the increase in exports, which meant reduced internal supply, resulted in a 30 to 40% price increase. Now the auction may follow suit with other flower species as well. mauriciomathias@hotmail.com
Gladioli fields at two locations provide fresh bulbs three times a year.

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